Showing papers on "Caste published in 2002"

Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India

Abstract: Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xv PART ONE: THE "INVENTION" OF CASTE 1 One: Introduction: The Modernity of Caste 3 Two: Homo Hierarchicus: The Origins of an Idea 19 Three: The Ethnographic State 43 PART TWO: COLONIZATION OF THE ARCHIVE 61 Four: The Original Caste: Social Identity in the Old Regime 63 Five: The Textualization of Tradition: Biography of an Archive 81 Six: The Imperial Archive: Colonial Knowledge and Colonial Rule 107 PART THREE: THE ETHNOGRAPHIC STATE 125 Seven: The Conversion of Caste 127 Eight: The Policing of Tradition: Colonial Anthropology and the Invention of Custom 149 Nine: The Body of Caste: Anthropology and the Criminalization of Caste 173 Ten: The Enumeration of Caste: Anthropology as Colonial Rule 198 PART FOUR: RECASTING INDIA: CASTE, COMMUNITY, AND POLITICS 229 Eleven: Toward a Nationalist Sociology of India: Nationalism and Brahmanism 231 Twelve: The Reformation of Caste: Periyar, Ambedkar, and Gandhi 255 Thirteen: Caste Politics and the Politics of Caste 275 Fourteen: Conclusion: Caste and the Postcolonial Predicament 297 Coda: The Burden of the Past: On Colonialism and the Writing of History 303 Notes 317 Index 359

India Working: Essays on Society and Economy

Abstract: 1. Introduction: the character of the Indian economy 2. Labour, work and its social construction in India 3. Class: Indian development and the intermediate classes 4. The local state and the informal economy 5. Gender, family businesses and business families 6. India's religious plurality and its implications for the economy 7. Caste and corporatist capitalism 8. Space and synergy 9. How India works 10. Postscript: Proto-fascist politics and the economy.

Microfinance and women's empowerment: a lesson from India

Abstract: This article describes an NGO project intended to empower scheduled caste women working in the silk-reeling industry in India through the provision of microfinance. It documents the impact that the project had on their economic and social status over a period of time and highlights the negative consequences of excluding male relatives from playing any meaningful role. It suggests ways in which the project might have been made more male inclusive while still empowering women. At the same time, it acknowledges that even if the men's hostility to the project had been overcome, the women's micro enterprises were unlikely to have been viable commercially. This is because the project insisted that the women operate as a group in what was a high-risk area of economic activity, with no clear strategy as to how their work could be sustained.

Genetic basis for queen-worker dimorphism in a social insect.

Abstract: Eusocial insects are characterized by reproductive division of labor, cooperative brood care, and the presence of a sterile worker caste. It is generally accepted that caste determination, including the differentiation of females into sterile workers and reproductive queens, is determined by environmental factors. In contrast, we find that in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, an individual's genotype at a particular microsatellite locus predicts its caste. We propose that this microsatellite locus is in tight linkage disequilibrium with at least one locus that plays an important role in caste determination. We call this the caste locus. We hypothesize that the system of caste determination we observe segregates the population into two distinct genetic lineages, each of which has distinct alleles at the microsatellite locus and also has distinct alleles, we propose, at caste. Workers are the offspring of parents from different lineages, and are thus heterozygous at caste, whereas queens are the offspring of parents from the same lineage, and are, therefore, homozygous at caste. This mode of caste determination has important consequences for the evolution of multiple mating by females and for control of the sex ratio and reproductive allocation in social insect colonies.

Caste, class, and clientelism: A political economy of everyday corruption in rural north India

Abstract: Corruption has reemerged as an important issue in research on geography and development, but there has been little research on the relationship between corruption and class reproduction in rural areas of poorer countries. This article presents insights into how low-level economic corruption actually works within institutions that are responsible for purchasing sugarcane in rural western Uttar Pradesh, India, and the role of this corruption in perpetuating material inequalities within rural society. The discussion is based on 12 months of intensive field research on the economic and social strategies of a dominant caste of rich farmers in Meerut District, western Uttar Pradesh. In this article, I note periodic rural protest against the government’s mismanagement of sugarcane marketing and corruption and describe everyday, disguised, and discrete forms of corruption that allow rich farmers to obtain privileged access to lucrative marketing opportunities. I also show how discourses surrounding corrup...

The Complexities and Potential of Theorizing Gender, Caste, Race, and Class

Abstract: Most economists have not yet grappled with the demands of intersectional scholarship, which recognizes the intertwined nature of gender, race, class, caste and other influences on the economic situation of individuals and groups. Among economists, feminist economists may have made the most progress and be best positioned to break further ground, though we can do better and much remains to be done. This article synthesizes the case for intersectional work, reviews the state of the economic literature, describes the contributions of the articles in this special issue of Feminist Economics on "gender, color, caste and class," and sketches directions for the future.

India in the era of economic reforms

Abstract: Written by economists and political scientists, essays in this volume not only analyze the impact of reforms on the economy as a whole, but also assess the state of India's post-1991 public finances, agriculture, labour markets, exports, centre-state relations and the connection of economic reforms with India's battle over caste and secularism. This book is intended for undergraduate, post-graduate students and researchers of economics and politics and also journalist, policy-makers and corporate executives as well as the general reader interested in the ongoing reforms process.

Economic History and Modern India: Redefining the Link

Abstract: This paper argues that to restore the link between economic history and modern India, a different narrative of Indian economic history is needed. An exclusive focus on colonialism as the driver of India's economic history misses those continuities that arise from economic structure or local conditions. In fact, market-oriented British imperial policies did initiate a process of economic growth based on the production of goods intensive in labor and natural resources. However, productive capacity per worker was constrained by low rates of private and public investment in infrastructure, excessively low rates of schooling, social inequalities based on caste and gender and a delayed demographic transition to lower birthrates and the resultant heavy demographic burden placed on physical capital and natural resources.

The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550-1900

Abstract: Based on original research in the archives of Uzbekistan, this book surveys the early modern commercial relations between India and Central Asia and examines the emergence, economic function, social organization, and decline of an Indian merchant diaspora. This diaspora consisted of tens of thousands of Indian merchant-moneylenders living in communities dispersed across Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, the Caucasus and much of Russia. The book illustrates how these diaspora merchants utilized their position as agents of heavily capitalized, caste-based Indian family firms to finance transregional trade and complex systems of rural credit and industrial production. It concludes with an analysis of the Russian colonial administration's policies toward the Indian merchants, and explains how these policies brought about the decline of the diaspora in Central Asia.

Assets versus Autonomy? The Changing Face of the Gender-Caste Overlap in India

Abstract: Inter-group disparity in India is multifaceted; this paper focuses on gender and caste as two important indicators of disadvantage. An assessment of the contemporary state of the gender-caste overlap suggests that the economic condition of women continues to be defined and constrained by their caste status. At the same time, the traditional distinction between lower caste and upper caste women, based on the relative egalitarianism and greater freedom of movement of the latter, needs to be revised. The Dalit (low caste) women are the worst off, as they belong to a group that is materially at the bottom of the ladder; their relative deprivation is compounded by low levels of autonomy and greater exposure to domestic violence.

Gender, Caste, and Religious Identities: Restructuring Class in Colonial Punjab

Abstract: The book studies the interplay of gender, caste, and religious identities in colonial Punjab. It focuses on the middle-class and how it brings into play gender and caste norms to counter the erosion of its economic advatages, and the subservience of its social and religious institutions under colonialism.

Gender, Class, Caste and Participation: The Case of Community Forestry in Nepal

Abstract: Based on an extensive literature and illustrated by a field survey of two Forest User Groups in Nepal, this paper explores how participation in community forestry is affected by social status and more so by gender. Looking more specifically at gender differences, the paper presents the reasons and the ways in which women, despite the current rhetoric, remain excluded from any meaningful participatory process.

Everyday life in South Asia

Abstract: Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration MapIntroductionI. The Family and the Life CourseIntroductionOne Straw from a Broom Cannot Sweep: The Ideology and Practice of the Joint Family in Rural North India Susan S. WadleyAllah Gives Both Boys and Girls Patricia Jeffery and Roger Jeffery"Out Here in Kathmandu:" Youth and the Contradictions of Modernity in Urban Nepal Mark Liechty The Role of Suffering in Women's Performance of Paxto Benedicte GrimaLove and Aging in Bengali Families Sarah LambMemorializing the Self: The Autobiographical Will and Testament of Narayana Guruviah Chetty, Madras City, 1915 Mattison MinesII. GendersIntroductionNew Light in the House: Schooling Girls in Rural North India Ann Grodzins GoldFamily and Gender Systems in Transition: A 35-Year Perspective Susan SeymourRoadwork: Offstage with Special Drama Actresses in Tamilnadu, South India Susan SeizerNervous Masculinity: Consumption and the Production of Embodied Gender in Indian Wrestling Joseph S. AlterDosti and Tamanna: Male-Male Love, Difference, and Normativity in Hindi Cinema Ruth VanitaLife on the Margins: A Hijra's Story Serena NandaIII. Social Distinctions of Caste and ClassIntroductionGod-Chariots in a Garden of Castes: Hierarchy and Festival in a Hindu City Steven M. ParishHigh and Low Castes in Karani Viramma, with Josiane Racine and Jean Luc RacineThe Erasure of Everyday Life In Colonial Ethnography Gloria Goodwin RahejaAnjali's Prospects: Class Mobility in Urban India Sara DickeySeven Prevalent Misconceptions about India's Caste SystemIV. Practicing ReligionIntroductionThe Hindu Gods in a South Indian Village Diane P. MinesThe Feast of Love McKim MarriottThe Delusion of Gender and Renunciation in Buddhist Kashmir Kim GutschowPresence: Yolmo Spirit-Callings in Nepal Robert DesjarlaisTunes Rising From the Soul and Other Narcissistic Prayers: Contested Realms in Bangladesh Jim WilceV. Nation-makingIntroductionPolitical Praise in Tamil Newspapers: The Poetry and Iconography of Democratic Power J. Bernard BateOutsiders at Home? The South Asian Diaspora in South Asia Gautam GhoshWhy Do Hindus and Muslims Fight?: Children and History in India Nita KumarWalking Through Violence: "Everyday Life" and Anthropology Pradeep JeganathanInterviews with High School Students in Eastern Sri Lanka Margaret TrawickVI. Globalization, Public Culture, and the South Asian DiasporaIntroductionCindy at the Taj: Cultural Enclosure and Corporate Potentateship in an Era of Globalization William MazzarellaA Diaspora Ramayana in Southall Paula RichmanBritish Sikh Lives, Lived in Translation Kathleen HallPlacing Lives Through Stories: Second Generation South Asian Americans Kirin NarayanUnexpected Destinations E. Valentine DanielReferencesContributorsIndex

The violence of development : the politics of identity, gender and social inequalities in India

Abstract: * 1. Introduction: The Politics of Identity, Social Inequalities and Economic Growth - Karin Kapadia * PART I THE PARADOXES OF DEVELOPMENT * 2. Between the Devil and the Deep Sea: Shrinking Options for Women in Contemporary India - Nirmala Banerjee * 3. The Violence of Gender Biased Development: Going beyond social and demographic indicators - Padmi Swaminathan * 4. Translocal Modernities and Transformations of Gender and Caste - Karin Kapadia * PART II VIOLENCE, DIFFERENCE AND THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT * 5. Surviving Violence, Making Peace: Women in Communal Conflict in Mumbai - Kalpana Sharma * 6. Confrontation and Negotiation: The Women's Movement's Responses to Violence Against Women - Urvashi Butalia * 7. Multiple Dimensions of Violence Against Rural Women in Uttar Pradesh: Macro and Micro Realities - Nisha Srivastava * PART III WIDENING DEMOCRACY: REPORTS FROM THE FRONTLINES * 8. Grassroots, Gender and Governance: Panchayati Raj Experiences from Mahila Samakhya Karnataka - Revathi Narayanan * 9. Exploring Gender Inflections within Panchayat Raj Institutions: Women's Politicisation in Andhra Pradesh - Seemanthini Niranjana * 10. New Modes of Violence: the Backlash against Women in the Panchayat System - Shail Mayaram * 11. Interlocking Patriarchies and Women in Governance: A Case Study of Panchayat Raj Institutions in Tamil Nadu - Anandhi S. * PART IV A HISTORY THAT REPEATS ITSELF * 12. Towards a Feminist Politics? The Indian Women's Movement in Historical Perspective - Samhita Sen * Notes on Contributors

Embattled Identities: Rajput Lineages and the Colonial State in Nineteenth-Century North India

Abstract: This study of the encounter between the Rajputs of North India and the British in the 19th century focuses on factors such as caste, kinship, and colonial relations. It examines the reconstitution of Rajput identity through property and inheritance strategies, marriage, female infanticide, feuding, banditry, rebellion and collective violence.

Collective action for forest conservation: Does heterogeneity matter?

Abstract: Community management of forests by Van Panchayats (forest councils) to meet local needs has a long history in the Indian Central Himalayas. This essay examines the effects of village-level heterogeneity in caste and land ownership, and of female membership in the Panchayats on collective action for forest conservation. There is no evidence that caste heterogeneity or female membership of the Panchayat have any effect. There is some evidence that greater equality in land ownership may enhance collective action and forest conservation in pine forests but not broadleaved forests. This is puzzling since villagers' interest in conservation is greater in broadleaved than in pine forests.

Collective and Elective Ethnicity: Caste Among Urban Muslims in India

Abstract: This article explores how the significance of ethnic identity can vary within a stable population, using caste among Muslims in Hyderabad, India as a case study. While some Hyderabadi Muslims are still embedded in ethnic networks, most now experience ethnicity as elective and do not rely on a corporate caste group for their social connections. This reflects a decline in the value of caste identities, which no longer provide economic or political resources. Increasingly, Muslims seek status through education, profession, or income. Thus, most Muslims in Hyderabad experience caste membership, identity, and networks in a weakened or attenuated way.

The House of Our Ancestors: Precedence and Dualism in Highland Balinese Society

Abstract: The House of Our Ancestors is a study of the Mountain Balinese or Bali Aga, an ethnic group with a distinct history and culture who are thought to be the indigenous people of Bali, Indonesia. In popular ideas of Balinese identity, the highland people feature as the conceptual counterpart to the royal houses established in the southern lowlands of the island. Hidden in shadow of this courtly culture, the world of the highland Balinese has been largely ignored even though Bali counts among the most researched localities in the world. This book explores their social organization and status economy from the perspective of an innovative theory of 'precedence'. Regional domains, villages and origin houses among the Bali Aga are all conceived and ranked in reference to the basic ideas of a sacred origin in the past, and of an order of precedence connecting the past with the present. The analysis of precedence ranking, evident at all levels of Bali Aga social organization, leads to the development of a new theory of status for Austronesian societies that departs radically from the notion of hierarchy as proposed by Louis Dumont in his classic study of the Indian caste system.

Work, Caste and Competing Masculinities

Abstract: Notions and practices of masculinity are often reconfigured in the wake of rapid economic and socio-political transformation. This paper explores this aspect in a south Indian village across two dimensions. Changes in local economy have seen challenges posed to the long dominant position of the upper caste mudaliars based on their control on land, over the dalits. On the other hand, the entry of large numbers of women into the industrial work-force has played its part in modifying the relationship between caste, class and gender.

Class, Caste and Gender - Women in Parliament in India

Abstract: Recent reports in India indicating that many women politicians are finding it difficult to participate in politics, let alone equalize the gender gap that exists, point to an increasing need to analyze the role that women play in Indian politics. This has been supported by recent elections. A February 1998 Times of India report corroborates much of what has been discussed in this handbook: namely that “domestic responsibilities, lack of financial clout, rising criminalization of politics and the threat of character assassination” are making it increasingly difficult for women to be part of the political framework. Moreover, women politicians point out that even within the political parties, women are rarely found in leadership positions. In fact, “women candidates are usually fielded from 'losing' constituencies where the party does not want to 'waste' a male candidate”. In this section we examine the results of a study of women parliamentarians in India during the Tenth Parliament (1991–1996). The discussion focuses on three main areas: the social profile of women parliamentarians; the routes they have taken to get to their political position; and the public policy areas in which they were involved.

Four Strategies to Curb Carceral Costs: On Managing Mass Imprisonment in the United States

Abstract: After forsaking the Fordist-Keynesian social compact in the mid-1970s and the crumbling of the black ghetto as an instrument of caste control, the United States launched into a unique sociohistorical experiment: the incipient replacement of the welfare regulation of poverty and of the urban disorders spawned by mounting social insecurity and racial strife by its penal management via the police, courts, and correctional system.

Subaltern resurgence: a reconnaissance of Panchayat election in Bihar

Abstract: This short paper analyses the panchayat elections held in 2001 in Bihar, India. It looks at caste representation, and associated incidences of violence. It concludes that these elections represent "the resurgence of the peripheral subalterns."

The Making of Little Punjab in Canada: Patterns of Immigration

Abstract: Introduction The Place of Mahton in the Caste Structure of Punjab The Kinship System of the Mahton and Emigration Developing the Canada Connection Establishment of the Little Punjab in Canada Change and Social Separation Conclusion Appendix Bibliography Index

Sons of Krishna: The politics of Yadav community formation in a north Indian town.

Abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the inter-locking relationships between politics, popular democracy, religion and caste/community formation in a North Indian town. This study is conducted through an exploration of the political rhetoric and political participation of a community of Yadavs in Mathura town, western Uttar Pradesh. The Yadavs were traditionally a low- to middle- ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern states like Bihar) in the last thirty years. The analysis of Yadav political culture involves the historical exploration of varying local conceptions of caste, race, primordialism, socio-religious segmentation, factionalism, history/myth, politics and democracy. Throughout the thesis runs a concern with the elaboration of a theoretical framework which makes sense of the transformation of the caste system, and its interrelations with modern politics and Hinduism. It is concluded that in order to understand contemporary processes of ethnicisation of caste, attention should be paid to descent and kinship, and to the ways in which the 'traditional' caste ideology of hierarchy has been usurped by the religious ideology of descent. The thesis demonstrates how the successful formation of a Yadav community, and the political activism of its members in Mathura, are partly linked to their descent view of caste, folk theories of religious descent, horizontal caste-cluster social organisation, marriage patterns, factionalism, and finally to their cultural understanding of 'the past' and 'the political'. It is concluded that Yadav socioreligious organisation directly and indirectly helped the Yadav community to adapt to the modern political world. In so doing, the political ethnography of Mathura Yadavs sheds light on why certain groups are more apt to successfully exert their influence within the democratic political system, and why others are not, regardless of the fact that in many instances they have similar economic and political incentives and resources.

Appraisal of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of Family Control Devices Among Rural Rajputs and Scheduled Caste of Hatwar Area of Bilaspur District, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract: This paper seeks to bring out KAP of family control devices among couples of two rural populations named Rural Rajputs and Schedule Caste (Chvnars) of Himachal Pradesh Although these couple...

The no-nonsense guide to class, caste & hierarchies

Abstract: After nearly two centuries of industrialization, social relationships still tend to be defined by whether you are an owner, a manager or a shop-floor worker. In older but less industrialized societies, notably India, the caste system defines inherited and fixed positions in society. In totalitarian regimes, a hierarchical structure is created through party allegiance and bureaucratic or military rank.